[Michlib-l] Shelving Adult Fiction by genre, or not

[Deb Hemmye]

Although I've established myself as a genre-hater, I will say that, especially for larger collections, it is very helpful to have separate budgets for the different genres. I believe it helps build a both broader and deeper collection. So maybe I'm just a genre-disliker. ;) 

Deb Hemmye 
Library Director 
Huntington Woods Public Library 
26415 Scotia Road 
Huntington Woods, MI 48070 
248-543-9720, ext. 686 



From: "Michlib" <michlib-l at mcls.org> 
To: "TDL Director" <director at tamaracklibrary.org> 
Cc: "Michlib" <michlib-l at mcls.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2024 8:51:09 PM 
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] Shelving Adult Fiction by genre, or not 

The Portage District Library has separated our fiction into General Fiction (historical, psychological thrillers, spy novels, and literary novels), Mystery (police procedurals, mystery, and police thrillers), Romance, and Speculative Fiction (Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction). We did this to help our patrons find their favorite books quickly, but it also helps me, as the collection manager separate our budget to make sure I am not overspending in mysteries and ignoring the literary fiction. 
Ruth Cowles 
Adult Services Librarian 
Portage District Library 

On Fri, Nov 15, 2024 at 11:02 AM TDL Director via Michlib-l < [ mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org | michlib-l at mcls.org ] > wrote: 



We used to have fiction, mystery, romance, and science fiction. We merged our mystery and romance first and I wish we had done it differently. I wish we had done it the way we did our later science fiction. We relabeled the mystery and romance, but when we inter-grated our science fiction we left the spine label to say science fiction but it is shelved in the normal fiction section by author. That way, patrons did not miss out on other books the author has written but they can still search and find items in the genre if they want. 

Our patrons took the romance merge the hardest but have adjusted and we found that circulation was not affected. 

Deanna Riggleman, Director 
Tamarack District Library 
832 S Lincoln Avenue 
Lakeview MI 48850 
(989)352-6274 

[ https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__tamaracklibrary.org_&d=DwMFaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=sW0QtgsUF_VTgHYbMLAYDX2ikQwQhwFgtcNmyu5STJQ&m=mtTl2SLznvNOWvSO-retxm6JWnAtWEoUQ9oD-V4fOgIwea3dcXgjUGTdwekZqVL1&s=E2pnbuUkQE2jSChtmLf7eWakxTNOgzXgO0OrpSvol48&e= | https://tamaracklibrary.org/ ] 



---- On Thu, 14 Nov 2024 10:36:48 -0500 Lisa Craig via Michlib-l < [ mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org | michlib-l at mcls.org ] > wrote --- 


BQ_BEGIN



Good Morning, 


For a long time we have grouped our Adult Fiction books into several major genre areas: General Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction and Westerns. As genres become blurrier and authors move between genres more freely, we are considering combining these genre areas into one large Fiction Area. However, we also believe that many patrons appreciate being able to browse their preferred genre, so enjoy the area as it is configured now. 





If you have either consolidated fiction or separated it into genres, how did it go for you? In particular, how did your patrons respond? 





Lisa Craig 


Collection Development Specialist 


Canton Public Library, Canton MI 


734.397.0999 x1253 


[ mailto:craigl at cantonpl.org | craigl at cantonpl.org ] 



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